Tuesday, March 25, 2014

New Job

I am so far behind with this blog, so here is a quick update.  I graduated with my ABA psychology degree, started a full time masters program for the same thing and accepted a new job at a local treatment center.
I decided it was time for a change, more responsibility and to be honest more money so I started looking around and decided to think about working at the main treatment center here.  I sent in a resume, went to two interviews, took some tests, passed my background investigation and accepted a job.  The whole process took about three weeks.
The main acute hospital is no Anchorage along with the teen girls, preteen and one boys unit.  I did not want to drive there everyday so I was happy to find they have a semi lock up boys unit in Palmer a town about 20 minutes from where I live.  The treatment center is up Lazy mountain so it takes about 30 minutes to get to work, it is a gorgeous drive.
The facility I am working at is a 30 bed unit for boys 11 to 17 with a variety of backgrounds.  The average stay is 18 months though some may be more or less depending on the circumstances.  They have a variety of issues and backgrounds so I am excited to work with them and learn more about each of their cases.  The facility does a lot of outdoor therapy with hiking, camping and other such outings.  Last week we took a group of the kids cross country skiing that was fun, I stayed in the lodge with a few and another staff took some out, it was a good opportunity for me to get to know a few of the boys.
So far I am enjoying it and happy with my choice to work there, the other staff have been very helpful and I feel like I am using more of my training so that is a positive for sure.